In the dark depths of the water, the Big Mushroom Ship slowly descended, undulating like a snake and stirring up currents.
In the cockpit, Quanquan Hu and Bai Xingxing nestled shoulder to shoulder.
Quanquan Hu extended a paw, occasionally pointing the direction.
Bai Xingxing twisted the steering wheel and pressed the accelerator... so far, they were slowly adapting to underwater navigation.
Bubble bubble...
Amidst strange sounds, the Big Mushroom Ship continued its descent. Before long, the two foxes in the cockpit could see piles of stone slabs and copper plates on the seabed, so draped in seaweed, others coated in silt, as if they had been waiting on the seafloor for millennia.
"Ying ying ying!"
"Ying ying ying!"
This is it!
Bai Xingxing focused intently, maneuvering the Big Mushroom Ship towards the docunts while deftly handling the new joystick... estimating the distance from the ship’s bow to the docunts, they pushed the joystick down!
Instantly, the mushroom’s nerve, connected to the joystick, transmitted signals throughout the Big Mushroom, reaching its vertical mouth... the mouth silently opened, releasing a huge bubble and drawing in the murky water.
Boom...
With a light sound, the opened giant mouth collided with the heap of docunts... or rather, the docunt heap was engulfed by the giant maw.
Once Bai Xingxing pulled the joystick back, the mouth closed, swallowing a dozen or so stone and copper slabs, so of which were caught between its lips.
And so, the Big Mushroom Ship held and grasped the docunts as it rose again, heading towards the surface.
Before long, amidst the sound of splashing water, it erged, heading to the nearest shore, where it opened its mouth to eject the docunts!
A dozen or so foxes poked their heads out along the shore, waiting in anticipation.
Seeing the docunts the Big Mushroom Ship spat onto the shore, covered in seaweed and silt, they appeared in forms never seen before!
They widened their eyes in delight, Fox Mountain had a new breakthrough!
Lifting their front paws, they bounced with joy, starting a celebration.
"Ying ying ying!"
"Ao ao ao!"
"Ao ao ao!"
...
In the Bronze Hall, Bai Mo sat behind a desk, holding a tablet, sketching and writing, engrossed in researching a prescription.
Suddenly, footsteps were heard at the door.
Two fox apprentices rushed into the hall, carrying a large pile of copper and stone slabs, placing them beside his desk.
"Ao ao ao!"
"Ying ying ying!"
On either side, they sidled up to their master, their chubby heads nudging his shoulders.
They began gesturing, explaining to their master that these were not ordinary docunts but freshly retrieved from underwater, still fresh with the scent of water!
Bai Mo patted the heads of these two fellows.
Upon examining the docunts, he found them indeed different... the underwater copper and stone slabs appeared thinner and more fragile, with cracks, delamination, and tiny pores on their surfaces.
The characters on the surface were blurred. The strokes beca shallow and crude, with many lines hardly discernible.
"Uh..."
To be honest, this quality was inferior to those excavated from soil!
Black Star hefted the top slab, gesturing to show his master.
"Ying!"
It turned out this slab not only had text but also illustrations!
Despite the simplistic strokes, the doodles were lively and vivid.
It depicted a stick figure, gradually emaciated under the sun’s glare.
Black Star couldn’t make out the text but could understand the illustration. They were quite curious about its aning.
Bai Mo took the slab, frowning. The carved text belonged to Alchemy Path Sequence Eight, heavily eroded, requiring ticulous interpretation.
He gestured and guessed, piecing together the context, slowly reading its aning.
"Uh, this...
"This records a punishnt, which if translated to our language, might be called ’Sun Penalty.’
"The sentenced are tied under the scorching sun without water or food for ten consecutive days.
"After ten days, regardless of life or death, the penalty ends."
Black Star and White Tail widened their eyes, looking from the slab to their master, then to each other...
Sun Penalty?
Isn’t this a prescription?
They had scrubbed the slab for a long while, only to uncover sothing so chilling?
Disregarding this junk slab, White Tail selected another bronze plate and handed it to their master.
"Ying ying ying!"
This copper plate had illustrations too!
The images depicted a large square pit with so indecipherable curves.
White Tail speculated that it might be a new type of herb field, waiting for their master to comprehend so that Fox Mountain could gain another field.
The underwater copper plate, with greener patina, appeared fresher, but the scripts were more obscure.
Bai Mo simply swept over it with his Divine Sense, discerning the shallow engravings on the plate... again Alchemy Path Sequence Eight. He linked the context and gradually deciphered it.
"This records... another punishnt.
"A penalty nad ’Fire Pit.’
"In this massive square earthen pit, flas eternally blaze, black ashes perpetually swirl.
"Of course, it doesn’t burn firewood or coal.
"Instead, the sentenced serve as kindling.
"They are pushed into the pit, burnt alive, their corpses turned to fuel, stoking the flas, awaiting the next sentenced."
Being a good youth from modern tis, born under the Red Flag, raised in the spring breeze, Bai Mo felt discomfort at such grim discoveries.
Black Star and White Tail frowned, eyeing the bronze plate and the previously decoded ’Sun Penalty’ stone slab, then at the pile beside, which they had painstakingly cleaned; their plump faces wore frustration, revealing their disheartened tiger fangs.
"Ao?"
Could they all be just garbage like this?
This feels like a betrayal of a fox’s emotions!
User Comments
0 comments from readers